The RoundHouse | 2/1/2018 2:35:00 PM
By
Paul Suellentrop
No. 16 Wichita State at Temple
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
Records: Wichita State 17-4, 7-2; Temple 11-10, 3-6
Listen: KEYN 103.7 FM/goshockers.com
Watch: ESPN2
If you follow the American Athletic Conference at all, you know Temple is the mystery team of the group.
Last season, the Owls lost to New Hampshire and defeated West Virginia and Florida State. They entered American play 9-4 and lost six of seven.
This season, the Owls defeated Auburn and Clemson – both Pomeroy top-20 teams – and South Carolina and Wisconsin. They lost five of six games to start American play and are 3-6. They also led No. 8 Cincinnati for 32 minutes and by eight points with under eight to play before losing 55-53.
Talented and unpredictable teams scare coaches and Temple is just that. Wednesday's 85-57 win over Connecticut fits that narrative.
"They are playing really well right now," Shocker coach
Gregg Marshall said. "They just blew out UConn. They just do it right. They are not real complicated. They just guard you, they share the ball and they can all score it."
Temple ranks last in the American by shooting 38 percent from the field in conference play. It shoots a lot of threes and rarely gets to the foul line – its 110 free throw attempts in conference play rank last. The Shockers can avoid boosting that offense by not turning the ball over. The Owls need easy shots, fast breaks and opportunities against an unorganized half-court defense.
The Shockers practiced at the Liacouras Center on Thursday morning, as they usually do on the road.
Landry Shamet and
Conner Frankamp both made plenty of shots. Shamet is in a 1-for-18 slump over his past three games from three-point range. Frankamp is 2 for 12 over those same games.
"I've met with (Shamet) privately and encouraged him," Marshall said. "In timeouts, I've told him if he ever doesn't take a wide-open shot that I am going to bring him out. Just keep shooting. Let's get this streak over with. Let's go back to the 50-percent guy."
Shocker center Rauno Nurger is averaging 4.8 rebounds over his past five games, up from 1.0 over the previous six games. His improvement makes Marshall happy, while also a bit regretful. Two years ago, Marshall planned to redshirt Nurger. An injury to center Anton Grady thinned depth at the position and Nurger played.
Had Nurger sat out the 2015-16 season, he would return next season and help the Shockers transition through the loss of a big senior class. Instead, the senior is part of a big-man rotation that is smoothing the move to the American Athletic Conference.
"Rauno's really shown a resurgence, in terms of how aggressive he's playing, and I love how he is rebounding," Marshall said. "He is probably rebounding - right now - better than he ever has. Right now he is really pursuing the ball well."
Markis McDuffie's sister works for the Temple basketball team. Sierra McDuffie, who played basketball at Felician (N.J.) College, is a graduate manager for her second season.
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.
